Text Size

Still, it’s clear that discomfort with Scozzafava runs deep, even within House leadership.

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence, an Indiana conservative, has pointedly refused to endorse or donate to Scozzafava’s campaign. Asked in an interview with POLITICO late last week if he was going to support Scozzafava, Pence only smiled and responded, “No comment.”

Pressed further, Pence smiled and nodded his head as if to say he would have nothing more to say.

Privately, other senior Republicans acknowledge the rancor and fear that it imperils their hopes of retaining a seat that McHugh held easily for nine terms.

“It’s a tough climate for us,” one GOP congressman acknowledged this week. “You never want to see a split.”

On Wednesday morning, one week after the altercation, Sessions prodded members in a closed-door conferencewide meeting at the Capitol Hill Club to back Scozzafava, while moderate Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) urged those in attendance to donate to her campaign.

Hoffman, who runs an accounting business with five offices across the district, is an unlikely recipient of national conservative enthusiasm. Before being embraced by the Conservative Party, he had no experience running a campaign — he didn’t even make it to the final round of contenders in July.

Though he currently trails Scozzafava — who is the front-runner — and Democratic nominee Bill Owens, according to a recent Siena University poll, if he doesn’t win, Hoffman could conceivably draw enough GOP votes to hand the seat to Owens.

“I’m the only common-sense conservative Republican in this race, and there’s two very liberal opponents who don’t reflect the ideals and values of the voters in this district,” Hoffman told POLITICO. “I’m not a spoiler. I’m the only real Republican in this race.”

Carl Forti, a veteran Republican consultant with upstate New York roots, said there was little question that Hoffman’s pull with conservatives could play a major role in determining the outcome.

“Having a credible Conservative Party candidate on the ballot is a major problem,” said Forti. “If Hoffman can raise money and if the Club for Growth spends what they’ve committed, the possibility exists that this could become a two-person race between Hoffman and the Democrat.”

Cognizant of Hoffman’s impact on the race, the NRCC has been spending as much time undermining Hoffman as it has attacking Owens.

The committee has blasted out near-daily press releases questioning Hoffman’s honesty and points to his immediate support of Scozzafava after she secured the nomination — he sent her an e-mail asking how he could help her campaign.

If Republicans expect to make any headway in recapturing Congress, they're going to have to start worrying less about what Democrats think and a lot more about what conservatives think. What you see going on is not a revolt against Democrats, it's a revolt against socialism. A socialist with an "R" next to her name is no different to us than a socialist with a "D" next to it.

Keep it up, idiots. Further and further and further to the right equals loss after loss after loss. Of course upstate New York won't buy it. Why should they? What they want is a cracker, white guy who drawls. Problem is that no one that area would understand a word he's saying. Carville's gotta be loving this one.

Everyday, the Republican Party is becoming more and more conservative and is obviously not open to other ideas or qualities that don't fit there own. The general principals may be there, but if they dont fit 100% to their liking, they automatticaly cast them out. They should change their party name to the Conservative Party because this is how they wish to be portrayed and be known. How hypocritical though that the Republican Leadership would support someone who conservatives feel is more liberal on many platforms than not. If they can support her, then they should also support some of the moderate, center of the left legislation that comes forth if they want to act this way as well. With this conservative revolt as well, how close minded, hurtful and disheartening to hear the name calling, "Flaming Liberal". What do they mean about this? Those who resort to name calling are only hiding their own indiscretions and are afraid of what people might think if they got caught doing something that doesn't fit their own principals that they try to promote. You can promote family values and good morals if you're sleeping around, Senator David Vitter, Senator John Ensign, Govenor Mark Sanford, etc, etc, etc.

If Republicans expect to make any headway in recapturing Congress, they're going to have to start worrying less about what Democrats think and a lot more about what conservatives think. What you see going on is not a revolt against Democrats, it's a revolt against socialism. A socialist with an "R" next to her name is no different to us than a socialist with a "D" next to it.

What makes this woman a Socialist. She represents a lot of former Republican women. Fiscally conservative and Socially libertarian. I voted for Presdient Obama because there is no place for me in the Republican Party. The Republican Platform used to stand for less government PERIOD.

I will never understand why the republicans think leaning to the far right and publicly supporting the birther/deather/teabagger nonsense is going to win them elections. One would think that in their insatiable need to be in power that they would use more common sense. They are losing the moderate republican and independent votes. They need effective leadership and reasonable candidates. Pandering to the Twenty-percenters is NOT going to win elections!

The Republican party leadership is part of the Washington problem. An elderly RINO who was one of Teddy's best friends was the nominee last year and ran the worst campaign since Ol' Bob Dole. This woman is on her record another of that stripe, someone willing to strike any deal with the left that is necessary to move legislation along. She and her kind will be the death of the GOP.

Reading this story makes me excited. It absolutely reveals the truth about the GOP: Its become a caricature of its former self and has now devolved into a largely rural, southern, xenophobic group of lost souls.

This is truly a prelude to 2012.

On one side, you're going to have Ken Doll Romney and boring as watching grass grow Pawlenty trying to appeal to whatever's left of the moderate wing of the Republican Party.

On the other side, you're going to have Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin appealing to the 80% male, 100% white, pseudo-religious, uneducated, radical part of the Republican Party (which is way more than 50% at this point).

And then you're going to have Ron Paul, who appeals to liberarian fantasies for about 10% of the Republican Party.

You shouldn't be. Republicans created Big Brother complete with unaccountable, all-encompassing domestic surveillance and even an eye in the sky. The Republican party oversaw the biggest expansion of federal government powers in the history of the United States while their party members cheered. Of course they thought the 'permenent majority' was theirs.

Make no mistake, Republicans love big, powerful, federal government powers as long as they control it.

Could someone please demonstrate what makes this woman a "flaming liberal ultra-leftist Socialist", other than her views on abortion & gay rights?

There were claims in the article that she's not big on lowering taxes, either, but neither the article nor any of the posts in this forum have demonstrated any actual "proof" of her "ultraleftist" positions.

BTW, people: when you say "ultraleftist", you're saying this woman is the philosophical equivalent of Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, & Mao. Somehow, I'm having very, very strong doubts of the truth of that claim; I think people are just tossing out buzz words, hoping they'll stick. It's kinda like describing John Boehner as an "ultra-rightist", which would put him in the same company as goons like Pinochet & the Shah. Maybe, just maybe, if people -- both voters & politicians -- could stay away from the childish, third-grade name-calling that only serves to distort people's actual positions, this country might get somewhere.

Sadly, however, I think most people -- both voters & politicians -- prefer to act like children, because that way the nightly news is far more entertaining.